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ALEXEY
BOTVINOV
PEOPLE'S ARTIST OF UKRAINE
ALEXEY
BOTVINOV
PIANIST
Rachmaninoff – Elegie in E-flat minor Op.3 No.1. Piano Alexey Botvinov

BIOGRAPHY

Alexey Botvinov

Alexey Botvinov is an exceptional pianist, musical innovator and producer. The most acclaimed Ukrainian pianist, Botvinov is one of the best specialists in Rachmaninoff music worldwide. Botvinov is the only pianist in the world who performed Bach‘s masterpiece „Goldberg Variations“ more than 300 times on stage. Alexey Botvinov is initiator and president of “Odessa Classics” – one of the best European music festivals.

Full Biography

EVENTS

Date
Name
Location
upcoming
11.01.2026 / 17:00
Briefsteller. Elegie
Theater im Kornhaus, Baden, Switzerland

Musical reading based on the novel by Russian author Michail Schischkin

 

 

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Briefsteller. Elegie
upcoming
13.01.2026 / 19:00
Briefsteller. Elegie
Theater Ticino, Wädenswil, Switzerland

Musical reading based on the novel by Russian author Michail Schischkin

 

 

Details...
Briefsteller. Elegie
upcoming
21.01.2026 / 17:30
«Botvinov and Friends»: Ilva Eigus
Hotel Restaurant Hammer, Eigenthal, Switzerland

The renowned pianist and festival director Alexey Botvinov presents concert series "Botvinov and Friends" in Zurich. The aim of the project is to bring classical music to a young and broad audience at a high level in an innovative and traditional way.

In this concert of the cycle, Alexey Botvinov will perform together with violinist Ilva Eigus, one of the most exciting young talents in Switzerland.

 

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«Botvinov and Friends»: Ilva Eigus
upcoming
28.01.2026 / 19:30
«Botvinov and Friends»: Tanja Sonc
Kunsthaus, Zürich, Switzerland

The renowned pianist and festival director Alexey Botvinov is launching a new concert series "Botvinov and Friends" in Zurich. The aim of the project is to bring classical music to a young and broad audience at a high level in an innovative and traditional way.

Tanja Sonc will take part in a concert of classical and crossover music with video art.

Organizer Odessa Classics

 

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«Botvinov and Friends»: Tanja Sonc
upcoming
01.02.2026 / 16:00
«Botvinov and Friends»: Mikhail Schischkin
Zunfthaus zur Waag, Zurich, Switzerland

The renowned pianist and festival director Alexey Botvinov is launching a new concert series "Botvinov and Friends" in Zurich. The aim of the project is to bring classical music to a young and broad audience at a high level in an innovative and traditional way.

Michail Schischkin is an author, who has been translated into all world languages, is one of the most determined critics of current Russian politics.

Text by Michail Schischkin (in German) with music by Rachmaninov.

Organizer Odessa Classics.

 

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«Botvinov and Friends»: Mikhail Schischkin
upcoming
24.02.2026 / 19:30
Charity Piano Concert
Beethoven-Haus Bonn, Germany

Charity concert for the Johanniter Mission Siret on the fourth anniversary of the attack on Ukraine

With the kind support of the Herman J. Abs Foundation

 

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Charity Piano Concert
upcoming
01.03.2026 / 19:30
«Botvinov and Friends»: Elena Bashkirova
Tonhalle, Zürich, Switzerland

The renowned pianist and festival director Alexey Botvinov is launching a new concert series "Botvinov and Friends" in Zurich. The aim of the project is to bring classical music to a young and broad audience at a high level in an innovative and traditional way.

This evening Alexey Botvinov will perform together with a regular guest at the most prestigious chamber music series in Europe and overseas - Elena Bashkirova.

Organizer Odessa Classics.

 

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«Botvinov and Friends»: Elena Bashkirova
upcoming
21.03.2026 / 16:00
Moments of Memory (V) at Klarafestival
Ravenstein Gallery, Bruxelles, Belgium

Klarafestival presents the Belgian premiere of the Moments of Memory (V) by Valentin Silvestrov, featuring Ukrainian pianist Alexey Botvinov — founder and artistic director of the Odessa Classics festival — together with two distinguished Brussels chamber musicians: cellist Guy Danel and violinist Sarah Bayens.

 

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Moments of Memory (V) at Klarafestival
upcoming
24.03.2026 / 17:00
When Sound Becomes Dialogue
ICEEL Conference, Vatican City

In Rome, within the framework of the ICEEL Conference — dedicated to the ethical and cultural horizons of science and art — Burhan Öçal and Alexey Botvinov will offer a concert that echoes the very questions of the conference itself: How do we create harmony amid difference? How does innovation stay human? And how can art remind us of our shared rhythm beneath the noise of modern life?

A meeting of piano and percussion, of intellect and intuition — where silence and pulse find their common breath.

 

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When Sound Becomes Dialogue
upcoming
06.05.2026 / 17:00
Charity Piano Concert
Musikschule Konservatorium, Zürich, Switzerland

We are thrilled to invite you to an evening of music and compassion. Join us for a charity piano concert by the most acclaimed Ukrainian pianist, founder and president of ODESSA CLASSICS music festival Alexey Botvinov whose breathtaking performances have captivated audiences across the globe.

 

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Charity Piano Concert

PROJECTS

International music festival

„Odessa Classics“ has already become a serious competitor to the established high-level cultural and musical European Festivals.

In the past three years the promoters took great effort in organizing an impressively versatile program of highest standards. Its enormous success justifies to spread the news as a precious insider tip to the Western world.

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Goldberg. Reloaded

In 2010, Alexey Botvinov and Burhan Öçal started the “Goldberg. Reloaded” project. It was a revolutionary attempt to rethink Bach’s eternal music, combining it with the ethnorhythms of the East and lighting special effects. Öçal and Botvinov played more than 20 concerts on the most famous stages of the world.

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Pismovnik. Elegie

At the heart of the performance lies Mikhail Shishkin’s novel “Pismovnik”. The production draws upon the novel’s central thread — lyrical and at the same time deeply philosophical. For this project, Alexey Botvinov created a stage adaptation of the novel, arranged the music, and for the first time took on the roles of director and stage designer.

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DISCOGRAPHY

MUSIC FOR A NEW CENTURY

Deutsche Grammophon (DG) 00028948641284

VALENTIN SILVESTROV - Daniel Hope · Alexey Botvinov

Deutsche Grammophon (DG) 00028948637317

MUSIC FOR UKRAINE - Daniel Hope · Alexey Botvinov

Deutsche Grammophon (DG) 00028948630226

SCHNITTKE - Works for Violin and Piano

Deutsche Grammophon (DG) 00028948392346

Botvinov plays Rachmaninov

nurkultur 0203AB

VIDEO

Valentin Silvestrov - Moments of Memory V
Rachmaninoff - Prelude in B flat major Op.23 No.2
Prokofiev - Sonata No.7 Op.83, mov. III Precipitato

PHOTO

PRESS

World press review

KOLNISCHEN RUNDUSCHAU, 10 October 2006
“Alexey Botvinov is a magnificent pianist”.

TAGES ANZEIGER, Zurich, 5 September 2006
“…performance was so convincingly pure and sincere”.

BASLER ZEITUNG, Basel, 5 September 2006
“Splendid performance!”

Music, a planetary language

Destinations. Ukraine introduces one of the best pianists of our time, Odessa native Alexey Botvinov. Since 2014, every summer Alexey has been hosting the Odessa Classics International Music Festival in his native Odessa, whose popularity has been growing exponentially. Over five incomplete years, Odessa Classics has joined the major league of music festivals in Eastern Europe.

Ukrainian pianist Botvinov sets world record in Berlin.

Prominent Ukrainian musician Alexey Botvinov is the only pianist in the world who has performed Bach's most complicated masterpiece Goldberg Variations 300 times.

The jubilee 300th performance took place in the Berlin Philharmonic chamber music hall on Wednesday evening.

Missa Pacis - world premiere in Odessa

For the first time in Ukraine and around the world heard the music that combines classical traditions of Western Mass, and the elements of piano improvisation. Artists resumed at a concert almost forgotten tradition in the modern classical concert practice. At the same time, the author of the work, Günther Schumacher, was present at the premiere.

Press Archive

Articles published in 2012 and earlier